Global media investment to drop by a quarter in H1 2020

Rob Clapp

An overview of the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on global media investment in the first half of 2020.

Media investment may fall by 23% in the first half of 2020 in the face of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This is according to a WFA and Ebiquity survey of senior marketers at the largest global brands conducted at the end of March. In comparison, the global ad market contracted at about half this rate (13%) during the last recession.

Nine-tenths (88%) of those surveyed say they expect their media investment in H1 2020 to decline compared to the previous year. One-fifth (21%) are cutting adspend by at least 40% but most (55%) are cutting...

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